The Jets bought relief with Hellebuyck. Now they need goals

The Jets traded the best goalie of his generation on Friday and called it relief. Fair enough, but Winnipeg's problem going into tonight's Heritage Classic was never the crease. It's that the Jets can't score, and nothing in the Hellebuyck return fixes that.

Start with the numbers, because they tell the story. Winnipeg has lost four straight, all four by one goal, and scored eight times in those games, by our count. Kyle Connor has nine of the team's 26 goals this season, per NHL data. Take him out and the Jets are a 17-goal team through 10 games.

What the numbers say

Stuart Skinner has done his part, and the numbers show it. He's 3-1-3 with a .911 save percentage, and he's at .913 over his last five starts, per NHL data. Three of his seven starts went past regulation, and a goalie who keeps losing 3-2 isn't the guy losing you the game.

So the deal reads two ways. As a hockey trade, Winnipeg got Dawson Mercer, Nick Bjugstad, Nico Daws, the rights to 2026 No. 12 pick Alexander Command, a 2029 second and a 2027 seventh.

Mercer is a real NHL forward, 42 points last season, and he starts tonight with Adam Lowry and on the penalty kill. He also had no goals in 10 games in New Jersey.

Bjugstad is out until at least the new year after pectoral surgery. Daws is a third goalie, which is a luxury the Jets haven't usually carried.

As an ending, it's the one Winnipeg needed. The trade request went public Aug. 27. Hellebuyck didn't report to camp, and the team suspended him on Sept. 16 while the search for a deal dragged on. That's two months of a Canadian market asking the same question every morning on the radio.

"I think relief, just having clarity on the situation," Lowry said.

The read: Relief is real, and it's worth a couple of points over a season. It isn't a top-six winger. The Jets' next move has to be scoring, not goaltending.

The Habs walk in with the hotter hand

Montreal is 5-3-2 and plays tonight without Nick Suzuki, who had a four-game point streak and leads the team with 12 points, per NHL data. That's a big hole for a team that lives on its top line.

The bigger story in Montreal is the crease. Jacob Fowler is 4-1-0 with a 1.94 goals-against average and a .911 save percentage. Jakub Dobeš is at .847 in five starts.

If Fowler gets the outdoor start, the Canadiens have the better goalie on the ice in a game played at about 3 degrees Celsius, which tends to reward the team that doesn't give up the dumb one.

File under: Board room, Winnipeg edition. Kevin Cheveldayoff said he was "very comfortable" with what the Jets got, and he wished it had been done sooner. Both things can be true, because four months of waiting turned a seller's market into a buyer's market, and the return looks like it.

The read: Montreal wins this one if Fowler starts and Winnipeg's power play doesn't. Winnipeg's power play is at 22.2 percent and Montreal's is at 12.5, per NHL data, so a quiet night from the referees is Montreal's friend.

My lean is the Canadiens, and then the Jets go home with clarity, two fewer points, and the same question about where the goals come from.

Housekeeping

The Devils come to Winnipeg on Nov. 10, and Hellebuyck has a good chance to be ready to play by then. Circle it, because that's the Canadian-market story of November, cottage set or no cottage set.